Now you can understand why the Donner Party starved

This winter the Sierra mountains have received so much snow that California and other southwestern states are declaring an end to their previously-announced drought emergency.  Here's a description of the current situation near the Donner Summit:

"Typically, we'll get one- and two-footers and occasionally a three- or four-footer," Sayler added. "But this year, almost every storm has been a three-four-five-six-seven-footer. And they've lasted for days."

The cumulative impact of those storms has draped the Donner Summit area in a marshmallow-white blanket of snow 17 to 25 feet deep at higher elevations...

"You spend your time moving snow, napping to recover and then turn around and do it again," said Steve Lieberman, a battalion chief with the Truckee Fire Department who lives in Serene Lakes. He has dug out his satellite dish – which is 17 feet off the ground – more than a dozen times this winter...

"It's gone from deep to epic to dangerous," said Randall Osterhuber, director of the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory near Donner Summit, where phone and power lines dangle at neck level in places and are draped through the snow elsewhere.

Propane leaks caused by the weight of snow bearing down on pipes are another concern across the area...

Seasonal snowfall totals have been eye-popping, too, including a record 57 1/2 feet at Squaw Valley USA, where officials announced Monday that they are extending the ski season through Memorial Day weekend – and possibly until the Fourth of July.

Some homes and buildings are so ensnared by snow that they can be reached only by narrow, tunnel-like corridors; inside, second and even third-story windows look out not on mountain views but on milky-white piles of snow that slide and tumble from roofs and press against the glass. 

Imagine what it would have been like for a traveler in 1847.

Photo credit:  Randy Pench.

Addendum:  A tip of the blogging hat to Phillip Sexton, District Interpretive Coordinator for the Capital District of California State Parks, who reviewed this post and offered the following information -

"I lived at Big Bend Ranger Station for thirteen years, from June 1995  to December 2008. Attached is a photo of my cabin in February 2007 I think. I heated only with wood. Snow is a wonderful insulator and I could get by with about two cords of mostly oak with some lodgepole pine. This was a relatively heavy “normal” winter.

Big Bend is about seven miles west of Donner Pass, and many maps will show a location of “Cisco” which was a railroad stop from the 1860s. The elevation is 5,870’ while the pass is 7,200’. It’s in a little basin, so storms get stuck against the pass and just dump and dump and dump. NWS regards it as the snowiest place in N America where people actually live. Russel O, who you mentioned in connection with the Central Sierra Snow Lab, lived and worked at the lab, about 6,800’ at Soda Springs. Unfortunately, the lab was closed several years ago and I presume that Russel retired. He was/is an incredibly knowledgable person.

In one of my first winters, I had fourteen feet on the ground on Valentine’s day, and literally had to climb a ladder out of my house to get to the surface. I was gone in January and it really built up, so I parked in a carved out spot near the road, put on snowshoes, went to the cabin, about 70 yards, and climbed the ladder. Because of the stress on the buildings, we hired a snowcat to plow around them so that we could shovel the roofs, but fortunately there was no major structural problems. That very heavy winter, my cat and I probably had some minor CO poisoning, because I realized later that only the ladder opening was my connection to Oxygen, and heating with wood uses tremendous amounts of oxygen. But we survived with only a little bit of brain damage presumably.

Your quote is from Norm Salyer, who is probably in his high 70s. He’s been there forever and if he ever does pass on (I’m doubtful) it’ll be up there. Norm used to own Donner Ski Ranch, one of the smaller resorts up there. He’s a pretty nice, if somewhat rascally guy.

I made great friends with the snowplow operators for the county. If you’re nice to them, they will help you out. If you’re a jerk, your road may become blocked or icy. My nearest neighbors were about a half mile away but we checked on each other, and I called my employer daily to let them know I was good, and other Forest Service people passing by would stop in to check. One of them would take me to our HQ office occasionally for meetings when he came over from Truckee, and I learned how to drive on snow and ice from him, which I’m very grateful for.

Travelers in 1847, except for notably the Donner-Reed party (1846-47) and members of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party (1844-45, they pioneered the route for covered wagons and were much more successful than the Donner-Reed group) and John C. Fremont’s 1844 crossing (he was an Army Lieutenant doing exploring and essentially a spy for the US as they began to push Mexico out of CA) stayed out of the snow. Essentially no one crossed the mountains except as noted. There was no trade during this time. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1930s that you could drive in and out of Truckee during the winter. Roads were not kept open until 1932 or '33. Only the railroad was available to get people and goods in and out of places like that, and even then, occasional storms would close the line for a day or two. Still happens overnight on occasion for Amtrak every couple of years. Ultimately, nature will always win.